How safe is the data of council tenants if a private company can access them on demand? The council claims to have refused Thames Water the right to access the data and yet Thames was able to hire a private company, Sagacity, who then entered what ought to have been secure account data on all the borough’s council tenants. One or both of these institutions has wronged largely vulnerable people.

It is easy to see why Thames would want this change. It will be easier for them to dismiss any challenges by individual tenants with regard to outrageous costs as opposed to having to contend with a body as large as the council.

Who precisely has committed this data crime; Thames via Sagacity or is it Camden who failed to secure council tenants’ data; or is it both? There must be an investigation and a “stay” on the payment method until such a time as this has been addressed.